It takes a full generation to move an institution up one notch in institutional strength. It's not to take Afghanistan and turn it tomorrow into Switzerland but to take Afghanistan and maybe get it to be Nigeria - that takes a generation...

We over-estimate dependency a great deal - absence of institutional strength and financial strength are two related problems which aren't going to be addressed in the first 25 years...

Nigeria's counterterrorism efforts have been unsuccessful because policymakers fail to acknowledge that elite corruption and the exclusionary character of the state are the underlying causes of the violence that has left more than 2,800 dead since 2009, Professor Hussein Solomon, Senior Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of the Free State, South Africa, said during a presentation at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) on March 28, 2013.

There have been “positive developments” when it comes to democratization across the vast West Africa and Sahel region, but that has been “competing with the volatile security situation” particularly around areas where terrorist groups are active such as the Lake Chad Basin, the head of the UN Office for the region (UNOWAS) told the Security Council.

In this podcast, Horn of Africa expert Alan Boswell and Senior Analyst on Gender Azadeh Moaveni talk about Crisis Group’s field research on women’s roles within Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, and compare them to women’s roles with Nigeria’s Boko Haram and other Islamist groups.

By 2050, extreme heat can make parts of the Middle East impossible to live in. Millions of people would have to find themselves a new home. In Western Africa, it’s said that the drying of Lake Chad is driving recruitment for terrorist group Boko Haram. And in Asia, the control of river water could become an extra source of conflict between India and Pakistan. These are just a few examples of how climate change can add to instability in the world. In this podcast, CMI take a good look at the links between climate change and conflicts and discuss what can be done to tackle the problem.

Documents de recherche et de stratégie

This paper examines the capacity of West African police services to enhance the recruitment, training and deployment of female police officers on PSOs. In particular, the study seeks to critically evaluate the current organizational structures of the Ghanaian and Nigerian Police services and their deployment of female police officers in peace support operations.

The study therefore, seeks to address two broad questions. First, how can West African states increase the number of female police officers on peace support operations? Secondly, how can these countries improve their respective training procedures of female police officers to become increasingly effective on peace support operations?

This paper prioritizes Ghana and Nigeria as empirical case studies because they contribute a relatively high number of female police officers both towards UN and AU operations within Africa and abroad. More importantly, both countries have begun increasing the number of female civilian police officers’ numbers after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 on gender mainstreaming, which poignantly illustrates the impact of the resolution, and the desire of West African countries to empower women to become greater participants in the areas of peace and international security.

This document draws lessons on what it means to uphold and promote core policing principles in our overseas assistance, providing a crucial insight into both ‘what works’ and the many challenges that we must navigate to achieve success. It is based on the collective UK international policing experience over recent years including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and most recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Libya.

This paper explores the Nigeria police system with particular reference to the formal and informal police institutions. It discusses the history of policing in Nigeria and the challenges affecting the one-agency police institution which is the conventional Nigeria Police Force. The inability of the NPF to control the rising spate of crime and the fact that the institution is regarded as an oppressive tool in the hands of the rich has given room for public distrust and subsequent debate on how to improve safety and security for foreigners and Nigerians within the country. The partnership theory of Dennis Rosenbaum is the theoretical framework that is adopted as a guide to this study. The paper recommends amongst others that the informal police methodology should be recognized by the government and given the necessary financial support to partner with the formal police force in order to enhance the process of providing security for Nigerians and foreigners residing and doing business in the country. Furthermore, the study has suggested that a code of conduct should be enacted by the legislative arm of government to assist regularized activities of the informal police sector who are often blamed for brutality during the exercise of their duties.

The political transition in Nigeria has generated a spirited dialogue on the priorities and course corrections required for Africa’s most populous nation. Key among these is security. While Nigeria’s struggle with the violent extremist organization, Boko Haram, has garnered most attention, the country faces a series of fundamental security challenges that, if left unaddressed, will trigger instability with long-term implications for Nigeria and the region. This Africa Center report reviews the most pressing of these challenges, how they have emerged, and actions needed to address these threats. -

Corruption is hampering the delivery of justice globally. People perceive the judiciary as the second most corrupt public service, after the police. UNDP presents in this report, prepared in cooperation with U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, a series of successful experiences from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo*, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, and Somalia, in promoting transparency and accountability within the judiciary.

Opening up judicial systems fosters integrity and increases public trust without impeding independence of the judiciary. The report advocates for judiciaries to open up to peer learning by engaging representatives of other countries in capacity assessments to improve judicial integrity. It also encourages judiciaries to consult end-users, associations of judges and use new technologies to foster transparency and accountability.

This report by the International Crisis Group identifies and analyses the Nigerian military’s ailments, which are spread across the entire system of defence management. It is based on interviews with serving officers in Abuja, retired officers at various locations in the country, personnel involved in operations in the north east and the Niger Delta, defence scholars in research institutions and diplomats in Abuja.

As in much of Africa, the vast majority of security threats facing Nigeria are internal, often involving irregular forces such as insurgents, criminal gangs, and violent religious extremists. African Center for Strategic Studies' Oluwakemi Okenyodo argues that effectively combating such threats requires cooperation from local communities—cooperation limited by low levels of trust in security forces who often have reputations for corruption, heavy-handedness, and politicisation. Tackling modern security threats, then, is directly tied with improving the governance and oversight of the security sector, especially the police. Key paths forward include clarifying the structure of command and oversight, strengthening merit-based hiring and promotion processes, and better regulating private and voluntary security providers.

The United States transformed its approach to national security after the attacks on September 11, 2001. As terrorist organizations spread across the globe, so too did the U.S security presence. Now, after more than a decade and a half of costly war, the United States has turned to foreign militaries and police to fight threats before they reach America’s borders.

This document is a review of security and justice sector reform (SJSR) programmes and lessons learned from 2001 to 2005 that were part of DFID's Africa Conflict Prevent Pool (ACPP). The programmes were reviewed based on the criteria of coherence, effectiveness, and impact.

Agriculture is the major component of the rural economy in Katsina State. Livestock production is a major component of agricultural activities practised there and is a source of income and a form of security for farmers. Increasing attacks by cattle rustlers have disrupted the stability that had been enjoyed by pastoralists in rural communities within the State. This study investigates the prospect of adopting community cattle ranches and radio frequency identification (RFID) as strategies for containing cattle rustling. Primary data were sourced via structured questionnaires and dichotomous dependent variable models in the form of probit and logit were used. Siting cattle ranches near rural communities is an important determinant for community acceptance of a cattle ranch, while fees as well as ranch sanitation levels would have significant effects on pastoralist decisions to use group ranch schemes. On the other hand, occupation, number of cattle rustled and education are significant factors in determining the use of RFID. There is growing scepticism over the cruelty in the military approach embarked upon by the current administration in combating cattle rustling, which seems analogous to the intervention used to combat the rise of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Therefore, the time is ripe for the government to generate participatory policies whereby consultations should take centre stage in finding solutions to livestock theft. Relevant authorities should urgently build ranches in rural communities, while RFID will be vital to track livestock movement, which will ensure precision for the timely identification of stolen livestock.

This paper examines the phenomenon of cattle rustling in northern Nigeria with a view to underscoring its strategic implications for national security. By way of qualitative discourse, predicated on secondary sources, the paper observes that cattle rustling represent a veritable threat to public safety and security in Nigeria. This is in view the dire impacts and repercussions of the phenomenon which negates national security of the country. As the way forward, the paper recommends that the government should recognise cattle rustling as a national emergency and put drastic measures, such as proactive community policing, in place towards mitigating it.

Cattle rustlings have become a major crime in Nigeria recently, with the northern region being the hardest hit. In the past few years, rustling activities have resulted in the theft of a huge number of cows, deaths of people and destruction of property. Daily reports across the northern region have confirmed that cattle rustlings have significantly contributed to the increasing security challenges facing the Nigerian state and seem to have become big business involving the herders, big-time syndicates, and heavily armed bandits. However, despite the growing level of cattle rustling and its consequences for society, the situation has yet to receive adequate scholarly interrogation. This paper investigates the causes and consequences of, and state responses to cattle rustling in Nigeria.

Propelled by desertification, insecurity and the loss of grazing land to expanding settlements, the southward migration of Nigeria’s herders is causing violent competition over land with local farmers. To prevent the crisis from escalating, the government should strengthen security for herders and farmers, implement conflict resolution mechanisms and establish grazing reserves.

Undermanned, underfunded, underwhelming: African police forces struggle to contain regular crime, and they are even further out of their depth when it comes to tackling violent extremism.The best way to identify threats to public safety is a policing model that promotes trust and collaboration with the community, say the policy manuals on preventing violent extremism, better known as PVE. A positive relationship is believed to help build resilience to radicalisation. But the reality in much of the world is that the police are viewed as corrupt, violent, and people best avoided.

In Nigeria, a radio call-in show with local Islamic scholars provided an alternative to extremist propaganda. In Somalia, training youth in nonviolent advocacy for better governance produced a sharp drop in support for political violence. In the Lake Chad region, coordinating U.S. defense, development and diplomatic efforts helped push back Boko Haram and strengthened surrounding states. Such cases illustrate ways to close off the openings for extremism in fragile states, experts said in a discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The Limits of Punishment is a research project led by the United Nations University’s Centre for Policy Research, in partnership with the Institute for Integrated Transitions, and supported by the UK Department for International Development. It seeks to understand if, when and how transitional justice, in combination with other conflict resolution tools, can contribute to transitions away from conflict in settings affected by major jihadist groups. Specifically, it aims to answer two questions:

What are the effects of current approaches toward punishment and leniency for individuals accused of association with jihadist groups in fragile and conflict-affected states?

Meaningful participation of women and other excluded groups in peace processes is important for sustainable peace, yet to date has been limited and lacking in diversity. Women and other excluded groups experience multiple forms of discrimination related to their diverse gender identities. These exacerbate social, legal, economic, cultural, as well as political marginalisation; and violent conflict compounds discrimination.

Two short case studies of Colombia and Nigeria, drawn from interviews and a review of background literature, focus on the experiences of organisations and activists working on inclusion of gender and sexual minorities. The findings identify trends and opportunities for further work addressing inclusion of gender and sexual minorities in peacebuilding.

Forced southern migration from the Middle Belt in Nigeria is largely due to drought in the northeastern parts of the country. With Lake Chad dramatically decreasing in size, herders have had to search for alternative pastures and sources of water for their cattle. Subsequent encroachment on settlements and farmland have resulted in disputes over cattle theft and crop damage which have often turned violent, made worse by religious tensions. This mass migration south has also resulted in a vacuum in the north, with militant groups such as Boko Haram moving in to abandoned land.

The Nigerian government have tried implementing a range of measures to slow and prevent this migration of farmers and so far they have placed a heavy emphasis on military responses. This article from IPI looks at the the progress made in relations to plans to replenish Lake Chad and the prospects of this successfully tackling the migration problem.

Gender justice sees equal power relations, privilege, dignity, and freedom for people of different genders as a necessary component for any “just” society and a prerequisite for development. Gender justice includes gender equality, meaning substantive freedom for all genders to have genuine choices about their lives. Mirroring a global pattern in peace and security practice and policy-making, transitional justice (TJ) practice has tended to reduce gender justice concerns to violence against women (VAW). This policy brief advocates for policy-makers to adopt a broader and more meaningful understanding of gender justice, and to incorporate it into their TJ policymaking. To demonstrate the need for a broader understanding of gender justice within TJ processes, this policy brief draws upon a study conducted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) on the drivers and impacts of TJ in Africa. The study examined gender trends emerging from 13 African countries that had State-led TJ processes between 1990 and 2011, and their impacts up until 2016. Based on the academic literature and available data for the 13 cases, four key factors were used as basic indicators of gender justice: women’s political rights and representation; women’s economic equity; women’s participation in civil society; and State measures against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

“Nigeria has been ravaged by a two-decade old insurgency led by Boko Haram” says Dr. Fatima Akilu, a psychologist, author, former government official, now Director of the Neem Foundation, and a member of the global Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL).

“Though based mainly in the north eastern part of the country, they have been able to carry out attacks in many other cities across the country. More than 20,000 people have been killed, thousands abducted and in excess of 2 million displaced in the North East and thousands more across the country. Resources meant for development have had to be used to quell the insurgency and we have one of the largest humanitarian response needs in the world currently. Many children have been separated from caregivers, their education and means of livelihood truncated.”

The devastation in Nigerian communities is matched by the overcrowded prisons where thousands of Nigerians – mainly men – reside. They are suspected of belonging to Boko Haram, the insurgent group renowned for waging a war against ‘Western education’ and claiming to uphold strict Islamic values. Years into Boko Haram’s terrorism, Nigeria’s military failed to stop the murders, abductions, and extremist ideology. In 2012 the government of Goodluck Jonathan adopted a new ‘soft approach’ of deradicalization. Dr. Akilu was appointed to run the country’s first official counter-extremism program.

A psychologist and an author who writes children’s books with an educational theme, Akilu developed and integrated deradicalization and prevention programs across the prison service and the ministry of education. Akilu spoke to ICAN’s Aya Nader about how extremism affects women in her country, discussed rehabilitation and reintegration of extremists, and shared what motivates her to keep the fight for peace ignited.

This paper explores the Nigeria police system with particular reference to the formal and informal police institutions. It discusses the history of policing in Nigeria and the challenges affecting the one-agency police institution which is the conventional Nigeria Police Force. The inability of the NPF to control the rising spate of crime and the fact that the institution is regarded as oppressive tool in the hands of the rich has given room for public distrust and subsequent debate on how to improve safety and security for foreigners and Nigerians within the country. The partnership theory of Dennis Rosenbaum is the theoretical framework that is adopted as a guide to this study. The paper recommends amongst others that the informal police methodology should be recognized by the government and given the necessary financial support to partner with the formal police force in order to enhance the process of providing security for Nigerians and foreigners residing and doing business in the country. Furthermore, the study has suggested that a code of conduct should be enacted by the legislative arm of government to assist regularized activities of the informal police sector who are often blamed for brutality during the exercise of their duties.

The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter of Boko Haram, is growing in power and influence. From its territorial base on the banks and islands of Lake Chad, this jihadist group is waging a guerrilla war across north-eastern Nigeria and elsewhere on the lake’s periphery. By filling gaps in governance and service delivery, it has cultivated a level of support among local civilians that Boko Haram never enjoyed and has turned neglected communities in the area and islands in Lake Chad into a source of economic support. If Nigeria and its neighbouring Lake Chad states want to sever the bond between ISWAP and these communities – and they should – then they cannot stop with countering ISWAP in battle. They will need to complement military action by filling the service and governance gaps that ISWAP has exploited.

Displacing ISWAP will not be easy. Although the group’s methods are often violent and coercive, it has established a largely symbiotic relationship with the Lake Chad area’s inhabitants. The group treats local Muslim civilians better than its parent organisation did, better than its rival faction, Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), does now, and in some ways better than the Nigerian state and army have done since the insurgency began in 2009. It digs wells, polices cattle rustling, provides a modicum of health care and sometimes disciplines its own personnel whom it judges to have unacceptably abused civilians. In the communities it controls, its taxation is generally accepted by civilians, who credit it for creating an environment where they can do business and compare its governance favourably to that of the Nigerian state.

ISWAP’s approach appears to have paid dividends in terms of recruitment and support.

ISWAP’s deepening roots in the civilian population underscore that the Nigerian government (and, to a lesser extent, those of Cameroon, Chad and Niger) cannot look purely to military means to ensure its enduring defeat. Instead, they should seek to weaken ISWAP’s ties to locals by proving that they can fill service and governance gaps at least in the areas they control, even as they take care to conduct the counter-insurgency as humanely as possible and in a manner that protects civilians.

To combat impunity among the security services, they should release the report of the panel that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed in 2017 to investigate alleged military abuses and implement those recommendations that advance accountability. They should enhance public safety in towns that are under government control in Borno and neighbouring states where ISWAP is building influence.

They should take care that in seeking to cut off ISWAP’s access to local markets they do not alienate locals by also strangling their ability to trade. And even though negotiations to end hostilities may not be a realistic prospect at this time, they should keep lines of communication open with ISWAP, focusing on practical issues such as how to get more humanitarian assistance to local communities.

These strategies certainly do not guarantee victory for state authorities over ISWAP – but they could help counteract important sources of the organisation’s strength, provide a useful complement to ongoing efforts to degrade it militarily, and at the same time channel important support to communities in the region, which sorely need it.

Informal security actors such as vigilantes play a variety of roles in African communities. Research has tended to focus on the negative impacts of informal security providers, including the perpetration of human rights violations, rather than on the essential roles these groups play in a community’s safety and security.
The study referenced in this report focused on Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano states in Nigeria. These states have long histories of ethnoreligious and political-related violence. A number of informal security actors are active in these states due to the high rate of violence. The study also considered Abuja because of the presence of informal security stakeholders in the nation’s capital city.

This policy brief is based on research CIVIC conducted on community militias, including the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), in Borno state, Nigeria. The CJTF, locally known as the Yan Gora, counts more than 26,000 among its ranks in Borno state alone. Community militia members protect, but also prey, on civilians. Based on CIVIC’s research on the CJTF and other community militias, “Nigerian Community Militias: Toward A Solution” outlines actions civil society, as well as federal, state, and local governments can take to ensure that the groups improve their engagement to protect civilians and minimize harm to civilians during their operations.

Livres

In this comprehensive study, 12 experts describe and analyse the military budgetary processes and degree of oversight and control in eight African countries-Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa-spanning the continent's sub-regions. Each country study addresses a wide range of questions, such as the roles of the finance and defence ministries, budget offices, audit departments and external actors in the military budgetary processes; the extent ofcompliance with standard public expenditure management procedures; and how well official military expenditure figures reflect the true economic resources devoted to military activities in these countries. The framework for the country studies is provided by a detailed model for good practice in budgeting for the military sector. The individual studies are tied together by a synthesis chapter, which provides a comparative analysis of the studies, classifies the eight countries according to theiradherence to the principles of public expenditure management and explains why individual countries find themselves with a certain classification. The book draws on the results of the country studies and their analysis by making concrete recommendations to the governments of African countries and the international community. While the military sector in many African states is believed to be favoured in terms of resource allocation and degree of political autonomy, it is not subject to the samerules and procedures as other sectors. Because of the unique role of the armed forces as the guarantor of national security, and their demand for a high degree of confidentiality in certain activities, the military sector receives a significant proportion of state resources and is not subject to public scrutiny. The book argues that while the military sector requires some confidentiality it should be subject to the same standard procedures and rules followed by other state sectors.

With a Foreword by Professor Abimbola Olowofoyeku, Brunel University 'This book makes a distinct contribution to our understanding of the challenges facing transitional justice institutions by shining fresh light on the need for finding effective mechanisms for holding judges accountable for their participation in authoritarian political orders.'-Frantois Du Bois, School of Law, University of Nottingham 'Too much has been excused in the name of a surface legality, of a professed duty to uphold law even where it blatantly conflicts with justice under authoritarian rule. Through a pain-staking analysis of the institutions of his home country, Nigeria, Yusuf mounts a careful but devastating critique on judicial subterfuge and institutional evasion. This is a fine book. There is rigour in the analysis and an urgency in the writing, in the imperative that judges face up to their responsibility, that the 'accountability gap' be redressed, that complicity not be forgotten or excused.'-Emilios Christodoulidis, Law School, University of Glasgow Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law addresses the importance of judicial accountability in transitional justice processes. Despite a general consensus that the judiciary plays an important role in contemporary governance, accountability for the judicial role in formerly authoritarian societies remains largely elided and under-researched. Hakeem O. Yusuf argues that the purview of transitional justice mechanisms should, as a matter of policy, be extended to scrutiny of the judicial role in the past. Through a critical comparative approach that cuts through the transitioning experiences of post-authoritarian and post-conflict polities in Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa, the book focuses specifically on Nigeria. It demonstrates that public accountability of the judiciary through the mechanism of a truth-seeking process is a necessary component in securing comprehensive accountability for the judicial role in the past. Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law further shows that an across-the-board transformation of state institutions - an important aspiration of transitional processes - is virtually impossible without incorporating the third branch of government, the judiciary, into the accountability process.

This mapping study provides an overview of the various ongoing or planned development partner efforts to support security sector reform in Nigeria since 2014. The mapping was jointly undertaken by the German Federal Foreign Office and ISSAT. The report tracks development partner support to all justice and security sector institutions in Nigeria. The elements of support were organized according to four categories: management reform, accountability reforms, capacity building/training and equipment/infrastructure support. Given the resource and time constraints facing the mapping team, the mapping only covered activities and programme interventions for the period of 2014 to 2016. All future programme activities that were identified were detailed under future support.

This paper documents good practice evidence from German SSR activities in Nigeria. Major German involvement in support to SSR is relatively new, and has tended to focus on train and equip approaches. The examples of German support to SSR included here may not involve full-fledged reform processes, they may, however, provide an insight into some good practices from the ground that could be used as entry points for wider SSR engagement and strategic Security Sector Governance reform.

Dr. Fatima Akilu explains to the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) how extremism effects women in her country, and gives an inspiring account of how violent extremists are rehabilitated and reintegrated using counselling and direct services.

The writers of this article argue that use of military force and non-state armed proxies to curtail jihadist groups along the Niger-Mali border may be stoking intercommunal conflict. The writers suggest that instead, a political approach which includes reconciliation, dialogue and, in some cases, pardons for militants should be adopted.

This baseline study was conducted by the African Security Sector Network (ASSN) team for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Peace and Security Competence Centre (FES PSCC) as part of the project "Security for All", which is co-financed by the European Union.

This study intends to be a gap analysis audit and an overview on SSG/R processes in targeted countries (Nigeria, Mali and Cameroun) and the wider ECOWAS region.

The aim of the study is to identify gaps and the causes of the weak involvement of civil society in the public oversight of the security sector so that project activities in all work packages can be specifically tailored and targeted to encourage greater participation of civil society organisations in these reform processes in West and Central Africa.

This report from Ernest Ogbozor of the United States Institute of Peace provides an analysis of the informal security actors in the Nigerian states of Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano and in the capital city of Abuja. The key issues considered are the types of informal security actors, the structures of these actors, their recruitment and training mechanisms, their accountability issues, their relationships with formal security actors, and perceptions of them. Interviews were conducted with sixty informal security actors and stakeholders in January and February 2015.

The report contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the informal security structures in Nigeria.

This mapping study provides an overview of the various ongoing or planned development partner efforts to support security sector reform in Nigeria since 2014. The mapping was jointly undertaken by the German Federal Foreign Office and ISSAT. The report tracks development partner support to all justice and security sector institutions in Nigeria. The elements of support were organized according to four categories: management reform, accountability reforms, capacity building/training and equipment/infrastructure support. Given the resource and time constraints facing the mapping team, the mapping only covered activities and programme interventions for the period of 2014 to 2016. All future programme activities that were identified were detailed under future support.

This paper documents good practice evidence from German SSR activities in Nigeria. Major German involvement in support to SSR is relatively new, and has tended to focus on train and equip approaches. The examples of German support to SSR included here may not involve full-fledged reform processes, they may, however, provide an insight into some good practices from the ground that could be used as entry points for wider SSR engagement and strategic Security Sector Governance reform.